


More Than You Bargained For

by desertno3



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I know John's a sweet bby boy who would never call his bff a whore, Miscarriage, Not Canon Compliant, Unplanned Pregnancy, full disclaimer I wrote and published this way before I actually started watching the show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27631454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desertno3/pseuds/desertno3
Summary: John gets jealous after he catches you coming home from a one night stand but when your entire world gets turned upside down, he’s the only one who can help.
Relationships: John Shelby/Reader, John Shelby/You
Kudos: 37





	More Than You Bargained For

**Author's Note:**

> I've got about 31k words and counting of Peaky Blinders WIPs in a google doc and it would be a crime to keep it all to myself.
> 
> This takes place somewhere so far outside of canon. John's single and has no kids and the reader's been taken in by the Shelbys for some reason or other.

“Where’ve you been, eh?” John asks just as you shut the door with a soft click.

You sigh at the sound of his voice, leaning your forehead on the wood. So much for trying to sneak back into the house without getting caught, you think to yourself. Maybe you should’ve just stayed the night after all.

“Out,” You say evasively, turning to face him.

“With who?”

“None of your business.”

He narrows his eyes at you suspiciously. It was pretty evident what you had just been up to and John didn’t like it one bit. The thought of you in another man’s bed irked him and while he couldn’t pinpoint exactly why, that didn’t stop him from letting the feeling consume him whole. He frowns disapprovingly, folding his arms over his chest.

“So, what, are you just whoring around now?”

Your expression goes slack as the words hit you like a slap in the face. He didn’t say it in a joking way, delivered with his usual smirk. To you, it seemed like there was nothing but judgement in his eyes and it pissed you off.

“Fuck off, John,” You hiss.

You storm past him, anger and hurt pooling in your chest before you pause and turn to face him again.

“Why is it that you and the boys can go have a little fun but when I do it I’m suddenly a fucking harlot? Why am I not allowed to have fun too, huh?”

John just glares back, his jaw clenched, before stepping past you and disappearing up the stairs without another word.

-

“What’s happened between you and John boy?”

You sigh at Arthur’s question.

It had been a day or two since your argument with John and by now it was clear to everyone that something had happened. John still wasn’t speaking to you and you still weren’t speaking to him and no one had a clue as to the reason why. All they knew was that it was pretty uncharacteristic for the both of you.

For as long as you’d known the Shelbys - and you’d known them a long time now - you and John were as thick as thieves. You’d definitely had your fair share of arguments in the past but it was rare that they held this much aggravation. Without either of you even saying a word to each other, everyone could feel it thick in the air.

“Nothing,” You say, brushing it off. You didn’t have it in you to explain to Arthur that his brother had essentially called you a prostitute. “He’s just being a git.”

-

“This is the third time today, hon,” Polly says, rubbing your back as you finish vomiting straight into the gutters of a back alley.

“I know, Pol,” You wince, slightly disgusted at having to wipe at your mouth with the back of your hand. “I think I just had something bad.”

She frowns, her eyes raking over you. “You haven’t slept with anyone recently, have you?”

You look up at her abruptly, your face going pale, and she gives you a sympathetic look.

“You’re showing all the signs, love.”

-

When John walks into the living room, he finds you curled up atop Polly’s sofa with your forehead on your knees. A picture of complete and utter despair.

“What’s with you?”

“Nothing,” You mumble in annoyance without even looking at him. You couldn’t deal with him and his foul mood right now, not when you had a whole other mounting problem inside of you.

You can’t help but feel even worse when you hear his footsteps head toward the kitchen without another word, leaving you to your original lonesome state in the living room. You wanted your friend back. You _needed_ your friend back. You wished that things with John would revert back to normal again so could stop feeling so utterly alone right now.

You can hear both his voice and Polly’s drift in from the kitchen but you can’t make out what they’re saying and you’re too tired to try. Instead, you just squeeze your eyes shut in a juvenile attempt to magically will all of your problems away.

When you hear his footsteps again, you expect him to walk straight past you and out the door. You’re surprised, then, when he walks over to you and sits down on the sofa.

“Hey,” He says softly. When you look up, he’s sitting in front of you with a cup of tea in his hands. “Pol said you were feeling poorly.”

You accept the tea with a mumbled thanks when he hands it to you, completely thrown by his sudden change of demeanour.

“I’m sorry, you know,” He says, a guilty look on his face. “I shouldn’t have called you a whore or anything. I didn’t mean it.”

“You were probably right, though,” You mutter, staring down at your hands.

“No, hey,” He ducks his head to try and meet your gaze, calling your attention back to him. “Look, you wanted some fun so you went and had some. No harm in it.”

That makes you burst into tears. John looks at you in alarm before prying the cup out of your hands and pulling you into his embrace.

“Hey,” He murmurs, rubbing soothing circles against your back. “What’s happened, eh?”

You sniffle against his chest. “I’m pregnant.”

You feel him tense and you pull back to get a good look at his face. You think he might be disgusted by you or disappointed but, instead, there’s nothing but concern in his eyes.

“The bloke you’ve been seeing. It’s his?”

You don’t know whether to laugh or cry even more. You wouldn’t say you had been ‘seeing’ the man. You’d met him at a bar and let him fuck you twice and that was the extent of it. The first time was about a month ago - and there was no doubt that was the night that got you into this predicament - and the second time was the night John had caught you sneaking in. The first time was supposed to be the _only_ time. You had never planned on seeing the man again but then you had bumped into him that second night at a different bar and thought to yourself, why the hell not?

Now you’re sitting here, cursing yourself for even just laying eyes on him in the first place.

“I haven’t been with anyone else in ages, so...” You trail off as your lower lip starts to tremble. “I barely know him, John. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“C’mon,” He says, coaxing you back into the comfort of his arms. “It’s gonna be okay.”

-

You hate every option currently available to you when it comes to what to do with the baby. You don’t particularly want to get rid of it, especially if it meant visiting some dodgy back-alley abortion house, but you also don’t like the idea of raising the child by yourself. You could only imagine the kinds of things people in town would say about you, unmarried and raising a child all on your lonesome.

Polly won’t let you even consider the option of giving the baby away and so it seemed like the last avenue you had left was to tell the baby’s father and get him to marry you - the mere thought of which stirred up an unbearable amount of dread in your heart.

No matter what, you felt like you were fucked. Well and truly fucked and destined to be unhappy no matter what you chose. You had been putting off the decision for as long as you could but time was ticking and now Polly was pushing you to make up your damn mind.

At this point, your pregnancy isn’t much of a secret in the Shelby household purely because you and Polly couldn’t keep the volume of your arguments in the house down to a reasonable level. Ada, like John, made it clear that she would be there for you no matter what. Arthur, bless him, refuses to get involved. But Tommy, meanwhile, is without a doubt in Polly’s corner. He wants you to make a decision - get married or get rid of it - and make it quick. You’re in the middle of arguing about it again during a family meeting when John’s voice cuts through.

“I’ll marry her.”

Everyone in the room, you included, turns to look at him in complete shock.

“You’ll what?” Polly asks.

“You heard me,” He says. “I’ll marry her. Everyone can think I’m the one who knocked her up, no one will know any better.”

“John-” You start but he gives you a look.

“You wanna marry that piece of shit instead?”

In any other circumstance, you would have found it amusing the way John had taken it upon himself to antagonise the fellow even though he’d never met him. At present, however, John’s question shuts you up immediately because no, you didn’t want to marry the baby’s father. You really didn’t.

“Yeah,” John says in response to your silence, leaning back in his seat. “I didn’t think so.”

For the first time since the meeting started, you’re rendered speechless and Tommy lets out a tired exhale, wearily running a hand over his face as he ponders it.

“That’s as good a plan as any,” He says finally, looking to you for your input.

You try meeting John’s gaze again, trying to understand why he was doing this, but he won’t look at you. You didn’t know if he was aware of it or not but he’d just offered you the greatest thing in the world: a way to deal with your pregnancy that didn’t make your heart sink when you thought about it. And you weren’t going to pass it up.

You nod at Tommy, “I agree.”

“Very well then,” Tommy says, getting up. “That’s that.”

-

“You really don’t have to do this for me, John,” You say as you sit beside him on an empty crate, looking out at the Cut. As much as you’re grateful for it, you want him to know that he could still back out if he’d changed his mind. The last thing you wanted was to force him into the mess that was your life and wipe out any chance he had to marry someone he actually loved.

“I want to, though,” He says and it surprises you the way that answer comes out of his mouth so quick and sure like he didn’t even have to think about it.

“ _You_ don’t want to get rid of the baby and _I_ won’t have you marrying that geezer so that leaves us with this. Besides,” He smirks, nudging your shoulder with his. “I’ve known you nearly my whole life and you aren’t so bad to be around.”

For a second, the total despair you’d been feeling over your circumstances disappears and you grin at his words. You lean your head against his shoulder.

“Yeah, you aren’t so bad either,” You say with a smile and you relish in the sound of his subsequent chuckle and the feel of his arm coming to rest around your waist.

-

You don’t realise how much you’d become attached to the life growing inside your womb until after you lose it.

With you still being in the earlier stages of pregnancy - and considering the circumstances surrounding the baby’s conception - you didn’t think you were invested in it at all. But when Polly had helped you clean up the blood and told you that you had most likely miscarried, it felt like your heart had split in two. In the days following, John finds you more often than not curled up in your bed, overwhelmed by your grief, and there’s nothing he can do but hold you close to him as you process your loss.

“Guess you won’t have to marry me anymore,” You mumble, your head against John’s shoulder as you both sit in front of the fireplace. He’d managed to coax you out of your room for a while, worried at the amount of time you had spent laying catatonic under your covers.

John frowns at the realisation, “I guess not.”

"I was actually starting to look forward to it all,” You sniffle.

In the weeks prior to the miscarriage, the idea of having the baby and getting married had started to feel less and less like just a responsibility you were being forced to carry out. You’d actually come to feel excited about marrying John and you’d even started to think about what it would be like to raise the baby with him.

“I was starting to look forward to it all,” You repeat, your voice quiet but brimming with emotion. “And now it's all gone.”

John strokes your hair comfortingly, "We can still get married.”

You tilt your head up at him, a confused look on your face.

“We can?”

"Yeah. I still wanna marry you."

"Why?"

The corner of his mouth quirks up slightly, amused that you hadn't caught on yet.

"Because I love ya,” He says softly. “And that's what you do when you love someone, ain’t it?"

For a second time, John has managed to render you speechless.

“I wouldn’t just get with any unmarried, pregnant lady that comes my way, you know,” He continues, a teasing smile on his face. “You think if the woman down the road didn’t want to marry the bloke who knocked her up that I would step in and marry her? No way.”

You let out a breathy laugh, amusement cracking through your sorrow for the briefest moment, “And here I thought you were the most selfless man in Birmingham.”

“Just for you, love,” He says affectionately, pulling you even closer to him and smiling when he feels you press a kiss to his cheek. It’s the most you can do for now with grief still weighing down on your heart but he knows what it means. You love him too. “Just for you.”


End file.
